Where to shop for AH3 rigs

[Max]

My squaddie's ancient Dell tops out with a 5 FR in AH3. He lives out in the sticks and wants nothing to do with a home build. Where can I send him hunting on the web?
Budget is $750

Thanks

[guncrasher]

http://www.ibuypower.com/

semp

[The Fugitive]

Digital Storm $960
Cyber Power $680
Adamant $750

Plenty to look at. I know players with a Digital Storm and Cyber Power units that were happy with what they got. $750 is a tight budget, but it can be done.

[morfiend]

NCIX.com will build any machine you want!  Simply select the parts and for around 50 bucks they assemble it,if you order an OS they will assemble and test before they ship to make sure it all works correctly.

  I have gotten my last 3 machines from them and I couldnt be happier,all three are still running,my kid had one of the old ones and I still run the other 2. My oldest will run AH3 with a simple vidcard swap,it's over 12 years old!


   

[Masherbrum]

Digital Storm $960
Cyber Power $680
Adamant $750

Plenty to look at. I know players with a Digital Storm and Cyber Power units that were happy with what they got. $750 is a tight budget, but it can be done.

Digital Storm.   

[Brooke]

I have had good luck with low-cost Dell Inspiron Desktops, to which I add a better power supply ($50 from Newegg, and takes about 5 minutes to install) and a video card of your choosing.

An Inspiron with an Intel i5-6400, Windows 10, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB hard disk, DVD+/-RW, keyboard, and mouse is about $550, so this route might be too expensive.  If you go with an i3-6100 instead, it is $450.

So, total then would be $450 (computer) + $50 (PSU) + $200 (graphics card) = $700.  Still a tad over budget.

However, I have an older, slower Dell than that with a GTX 750 Ti card (cheaper than the GTX 960), and it plays AH3 at about 60 fps with the slider set to "none" and other things set to default.

[Brooke]

The latest Dell Inspiron Desktops have now gone to proprietary power supplies and are no longer suitable (in my opinion) for gaming.

Just wanted to add this as I have been a proponent of Inspiron Desktops in the past.

[Skuzzy]

The latest Dell Inspiron Desktops have now gone to proprietary power supplies and are no longer suitable (in my opinion) for gaming.

Just wanted to add this as I have been a proponent of Inspiron Desktops in the past.

Not again.  They used to do that years ago.  Back then they had the power supply manufacturer swap the _5 and ground leads in the power supply.  Made for nice fireworks when you plugged anything not made for Dell into their computers.

[Brooke]

Not again.  They used to do that years ago.  Back then they had the power supply manufacturer swap the _5 and ground leads in the power supply.  Made for nice fireworks when you plugged anything not made for Dell into their computers.

Yep -- it's disappointing, as the Inspiron was a very good budget machine for gaming.

What they have done is gone to an even-smaller case and a power supply that is a non-standard format -- a normal-sized ATX PSU can't even fit in there anymore.

[Rich46yo]

This Digital Storm computer has been outstanding. Their service is outstanding. Their forum is outstanding. They actually run the thing for days before sending it to you to make sure there are no issues. They are really good at answering the phone and talking you thru problems. I know your paying premium prices with them but its worth it unless you have the time and knowledge to put your own together.

And I might do that after I retire because computers arent very difficult but I still think DS is a good company and I dont give good reviews very often. I'd never buy a Dell or name brand general computer again. Not for gaming.

[Masherbrum]

This Digital Storm computer has been outstanding. Their service is outstanding. Their forum is outstanding. They actually run the thing for days before sending it to you to make sure there are no issues. They are really good at answering the phone and talking you thru problems. I know your paying premium prices with them but its worth it unless you have the time and knowledge to put your own together.

And I might do that after I retire because computers arent very difficult but I still think DS is a good company and I dont give good reviews very often. I'd never buy a Dell or name brand general computer again. Not for gaming.

       I enjoy building mine at the moment.   Eventually, I'll go through them.

[Brooke]

In checking around, it seems like this place is an excellent candidate for a place where you can easily select what you want (the "system builder" tab), and they'll build it and ship it to you with a 1 year warranty:

http://www.superbiiz.com/

You can configure anything from budget to high end quite easily, and on the budget side, they compete well even with Dell.

[mbailey]

I just ordered a Digital storm Vanquish 5......their customer service has been amazing. My son has a DS, loves it. Figured given the quality and service they provided for him, id give them my business again.....Still waiting on it to ship, but they are well ahead of the time they told me it would take to build and ship.   

[Masherbrum]

I just ordered a Digital storm Vanquish 5......their customer service has been amazing. My son has a DS, loves it. Figured given the quality and service they provided for him, id give them my business again.....Still waiting on it to ship, but they are well ahead of the time they told me it would take to build and ship.

You won't be disappointed.   If you're going to upgrade, then don't cut corners.